1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a ceiling-mounted-in type of air conditioner, and more particularly, to an air conditioner with fewer parts in a wind directing plate driving portion, with excellent assembling operability, and with slimmer front panel.
2. Description of the Related Art
First, with reference to FIG. 23, the general configuration of the conventional ceiling-mounted-in type of air conditioner will be explained, and then disadvantages of the air conditioner will be described. An air conditioner 1 includes a main body housing 2 embedded in a ceiling with the bottom face at the indoor side being opened, and a front panel 3 attached to the bottom face side of the main body housing 2 so as to be attachable and detachable.
A bell-mouth 21 is provided almost at the center of the bottom side of the main body housing 2, and a first opening 22 for an air inlet is formed by the bell-mouth 21. A second opening 23 for an air inlet is formed around the first opening 22, that is, around the bottom face of the main body housing 2.
A turbo fan 24 serving as an air blowing means for taking in indoor air from the first opening 22 and for blowing the air towards the second opening 23 is provided in the main body housing 2. A heat exchanger 25 is provided in an air passage continuing from the turbo fan 24 to the second opening 23 in such a way as to surround the turbo fan 24. A drain pan 26 is disposed under the heat exchanger 25.
An air inlet 31 communicated with the first opening 22 of the main body housing 2 is provided in the middle of the front panel 3. An anti-dust filter 32 and a decorative grill 33 are mounted in the air inlet 31 to be attachable and detachable. Four of air outlets 34 disposed to be communicated with the second opening 23 are formed along each side of the main body housing 2 around the front panel 3. Incidentally only two of the air outlets 34 opposing to each other are shown in FIG. 23 for convenience in creating the drawing.
Each of the air outlets 34 is provided with a wind directing plate 4 in a band plate shape therein as illustrated in FIG. 24. Each of the wind directing plates 4 is vertically rotatable around a horizontal axis of rotation, and the wind directing plates 4 adjacent to each other are coupled by a hook type of universal joint 5 so as to be rotatable synchronously with each other.
Referring to FIG. 25 in addition, wind directing plates driving means 6 is provided at a specified corner portion 3a of the front panel 3. The wind directing plates driving means 6 includes a motor 61 and a cylindrical cam 62. The motor 61 includes mounting flanges 61b and 61c on both sides thereof, and is fixed on bosses 63 and 63 vertically provided on the corner portion 3a by the medium of the mounting flanges 61b and 61c with mounting screws 61d and 61d.
A cam slot 62a is formed in a circular form at the bottom face side of the cam 62 as is illustrated in FIG. 26. A lever 52 engaged in the cam slot 62a of the cam 62 is provided at a main shaft 51 side of the universal joint 5.
The cam 62 has a mounting hole 62b for the motor 61 at the position displaced from the center thereof, and is mounted onto an output shaft 61a of the motor 61 with the mounting screw 62c inserted through the mounting hole 62b while checking the alignment of the lever 52 and the cam slot 62a so that the lever 52 of the universal joint 5 is engaged in the cam slot 62a.
A rib plate 35 forming a part of the air outlet 34 is vertically provided at each of the corner portions of the front panel 3, and an almost U-shaped bearing slot 36 for rotatably supporting the wind directing plate 4 is formed on the rib plate 35.
On supporting the wind directing plate 4 in the bearing slot 36, in the prior art, as illustrated in FIG. 27, a joint member 53 of the hook-type of universal joint 5 is attached to a rotational shaft 41 of the wind directing plate 4 after a sleeve bush 42 as a separate part is fitted onto the shaft portion of the joint member 53. After the sleeve bush 42 is slipped into the bearing slot 36, a holding piece, not illustrated, for preventing the disengagement is attached thereon in the bearing slot 36.
A motor cover 7 is finally placed so as to cover the entire body of the wind directing plates driving means 6. When the motor 61 reciprocatingly rotates the cam 62 at a predetermined angle, the rotational movement is converted into linear movement by the cam slot 62a and the lever 52. Thereby the hook type of universal joint 5 is reciprocatingly rotated in a direction shown by arrows A in FIG. 26, and with this, each of the wind directing plates 4 is synchronously rotated around the rotational shaft 41 in a vertical direction.
The above-described conventional embodiment has disadvantages as described below. First, there is a disadvantage in the operability, since the motor 61, the cam 62, and the like are attached in the corner portion 3a of the front panel 3 having only a limited space.
As is shown in FIG. 26, the cam 62 is laid on the motor 61, therefore a height H of the wind plates driving portion 6 becomes higher by the thickness of the cam 62, which doesn't allow the front panel 3 to have a slimmer body.
The helical cam slot 62a on the back side of the cam 62 cannot be seen from the position above the cam 62, therefore aligning the cam slot 62a with the lever 52 is difficult in attaching the cam 62 on the motor 61, which makes the assembling operation more difficult.
Since separate parts such as the sleeve bush 42 and the holding piece for preventing the disengagement are needed to support the wind directing plate 4 in the bearing slot 36 in addition to many points to be screwed, the number of parts are larger as a whole, therefore it not only costs more but also takes some efforts in the maintenance of the parts.